A CASE OF ENDOMETRIOSIS OF THE RECTUM WITH REGIONAL LYMPH NODE METASTASIS

• Published in: Nihon Rinsho Geka Gakkai Zasshi (Journal of Japan Surgical Association) Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 218 - 221
• Main Authors: YOSHIFUJI, Takehito, TOKORO, Tadao, INOUE, Kiyohiko, HIDA, Jinnichi, YASUTOMI, Masayuki, OKUNO, Kiyotaka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Surgical Association 25.01.2004
• ISSN: 1345-2843; 1882-5133
• DOI: 10.3919/jjsa.65.218

A 47-year-old woman was presented with positive fecal occult blood test. Colonofiberscopy revealed a submucosal tumor on the right posterior wall of the rectum. A biopsy of the lesion resulted in erosive colonic mucosa. Two months later, colonofiberscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography revealed the submucosal tumor which had grown to compress the wall outward. However, a biopsy specimen was diagnosed as erosion of the colonic mucosa. Because a passibility of malignant disease could not be ruled out, we performed a low anterior resection with a left ovary resection. Histologically, the tumor was diagnosed as endometriosis of the rectum with pararectal lymph node metastasis. There have been no signs of reccurence, as of five years after operation. It is very rare that endometriosis of the digestive tract has regional lymph node involvement. There are some cases of intestinal endometriosis with aberration to the regional lymph nodes in a short time, which present difficulty in differentiation from malignant diseases.